Mom Feuds with Sister for Demanding Over $20 After Niece Ate Two Slices of Two-Week-Old Cake

The mom was taken aback by how upset her sister was over two slices of cake

• OP's teenage daughter babysits for her aunt, OP's sister, at a discount rate to earn pocket money

• While babysitting, the teen helped herself to two slices of cake her aunt had in a bread box on her counter

• The aunt is now claiming the cake was expensive and OP should pay her over a quarter of the cake's cost

A single mom whose teen babysits for family encountered an uncomfortable and unusual snafu that left her wondering if she was in the wrong.

The original poster (OP) is a 38-year-old mom to a 17-year-old teen whom she refers to as Carly. Carly babysits for her aunt (OP's sister), who lives nearby with her 7-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter.

"Carly sometimes babysits her cousins on the weekends so that my sister and BIL can go out, usually for 3-4 hours. In exchange, my sister gives her €30-€40, cash in hand," OP explained on Reddit's AmITheA------ board.

"Me and my sister do not make Carly babysit; she volunteers to. She likes having the extra money to fund her Starbucks addiction without a part-time job in fast food or retail, plus the kids love getting to see her," she noted. "I'm glad that she's getting to learn responsibility. I think it's a win all around."

The arrangement has gone smoothly until a recent incident left OP confounded.

"A couple [of] hours after Carly came home from babysitting, my sister calls me. It was my niece's birthday two-ish weeks ago, and there was some leftover birthday cake in their kitchen," OP said.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Related: Woman Has 10 Minutes to Transform Store-Bought Cake for Friend's Baby Shower — and Somehow Pulls It Off (Exclusive)

"It was a custom-made fancy lemon curd cake and I remember at the party a lot of the kids didn't want to eat it so a lot was leftover. Whilst she was babysitting, Carly had eaten two slices."

OP's sister wasn't happy that Carly helped herself to the cake. "My sister said that she should've asked before helping herself to the cake, and that it was expensive. I apologized to my sister and told her that I would have a word with my daughter."

While OP thought that was the end of that, her sister continued, "She mentioned again that the cake was custom-made and expensive and says that we should be compensating her."

"At first I honestly thought she couldn't be serious, but she did want me to give her money because of the cake. I mentioned that surely the cake was going bad soon if it wasn't already stale (I said this light-heartedly, trying to lighten the mood) but made it clear I was NOT GIVING HER MONEY," she explained. "She says she paid €70 for the cake and she expects me to give her €20. I told her I'm not doing that."

"My sister says I'm being inconsiderate and that my daughter ate the slices without permission. I feel like she is being petty, and what difference would it have made if all of it got eaten last weekend or at the birthday party?"

Asking if she was wrong, a few commenters asked for more information, at which point OP revealed the cake "wasn't frozen, it was being kept in the bread bin."

"The cake was being kept at room temperature in a bread box on the counter. After two weeks, it really wasn't even a viable edible item anymore, let alone one with monetary value," one commenter said. "Your daughter is lucky she didn't get food poisoning."

Another person said OP and Carly should meet her sister with equal pettiness. "Pay sis for the two slices of her fancy ass cake, and tell your daughter she will not be babysitting her siblings without full and comparable to other sitters compensation ever again. And tell her why," they suggested.

"Your sis had the golden goose of babysitters, and she obviously had no idea how good she had it. Emphasis on had. If she wants to nickle and dime you, let’s go," the commenter continued.

"And don’t bother to give sister a heads up. She can find out your daughter will be charging her, oh, shall we say, 20 euro an hour? For every hour? Or whatever the going rate is, or she can scramble to find an alternate. Your daughter could make all kinds of money for her Starbucks addiction, working for somebody else. But the bargain sis had- ended when she expected you to fork over 20 euro for stale leftover cake."

"It doesn't matter *now* how expensive it was to begin with. The cake is now a sunk cost; Sis is not going to recoup anything by letting it rot in the fridge," another commenter pointed out. "Chances are, Sis is kicking herself for spending so much/going so far out of her way for a cake her daughter didn't like. Carly brought attention to the fact that there was so much left over."

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.